


Lost and Found

by AutumnMooncakes



Series: Harrison [2]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25482820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnMooncakes/pseuds/AutumnMooncakes
Summary: Sequel to Misdirection. Edgar and Nerris are now safe. But the reunion of Edgar and his parents does not present a resolution for all of the family’s problems. Harrison’s parents are still afraid of him. The other dimension has left a mark on Edgar that won’t go away.  And will Nerris’s and Harrison’s relationship change for the better or worse?
Relationships: Nerrison
Series: Harrison [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1832596
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: SPOILERS for Camp Camp seasons 1-4! Some swearing, PTSD, anxiety, ableism, general angst 
> 
> There is also a brief mention of the board game Pandemic in this story. I wrote that before the virus situation started. I hope it doesn’t create any bad feelings.

Nerris sat on her bed in her tent, hugging herself. Her brief glimpse of the other dimension had been enough to paralyze her. She had always daydreamed of going to a fantasy world, but this had been far too unexpected.  
When Harrison had successfully made Nerris reappear, he had instantly dissolved into tears. At that moment, Nerris hadn’t been able to think coherently.  
Now, as she gradually got her thoughts together after a fretful night’s sleep, she was feeling remorse for the cruel trick she had played.  
Edgar had rushed back and forth between Nerris and Harrison for most of the previous night. He had then risen early to check on them in the morning.  
Edgar gave Nerris a cup of juice. “At least you weren’t gone as long as I was.”  
She took the cup with trembling hands. “What would have happened if we’d never come back?”  
“We could’ve survived,” said Edgar. “Harrison didn’t do that intentionally.”  
“I know,” said Nerris quietly. “Is … Harrison okay?”  
“He’s alright,” Edgar answered. “At least, he wasn’t crying this morning. So … you and Harrison don’t get along?”  
Nerris sighed. “I don’t hate him. I just wish everybody would pay the same sort of attention to me.”  
“Harrison told me you like roleplaying,” said Edgar. “What’s that like?”  
“It’s playing pretend,” said Nerris, glad of the distraction. “Everyone chooses a character and you play a story together.”  
“That sounds very fun.”  
“I wouldn’t call it a board game, though,” said Nerris.  
“Does Harrison roleplay with you?”  
“No,” said Nerris quietly. “No one does.”  
“I could play with you,” Edgar offered. “Ever heard of the game Pandemic? It’s a cooperative board game, which means everyone’s working together to achieve the same goal and beat the game. Everybody has a different role with their own unique abilities.”  
Nerris’s face brightened. “Really?”  
“Really. If you don’t have the right combination of people, it’s very hard to win. Actually, if you don’t have the right combination of people, you’re screwed.”  
“Harrison actually has gone LARPing – live action roleplaying – with me before,” said Nerris.  
“I’d like to try that!” Edgar paused. “But … maybe when my nerves are less jittery. I’ve had enough fighting and surviving for a while, if you know what I mean.”  
Nerris grinned. “That’s a lot more LARPing than I’ve ever done.”  
Nurf poked his head into the tent. “Edgar, your parents are here.” 

Edgar began to get up. “I’ll see you in a moment.”  
“Tell Harrison …” Nerris paused. “Tell Harrison he has nothing to be sorry for.”  
Edgar left the tent, and Nurf went up to Nerris. “I brought you some of the berries we picked yesterday.”  
“Thank you,” she said. 

Harrison met up with Edgar on their way up the path. He threw his arms around his brother’s waist and squeezed him tight. “I missed you so much!”  
Edgar patted Harrison’s head. “I missed you, too.”  
“I am really, really happy that you’re back.”  
“You did well, Harrison.”  
Harrison’s grip slackened. “I’m worried,” he whispered.  
“There’s no need to be,” said Edgar, although he was worried too. “You brought me back. It’s over.”  
Harrison smiled, but Edgar could see that it was a brave smile concealing nervousness.  
Their parents were standing outside the mess hall with David, their body posture uncertain. Edgar hadn’t seen them for so long, they looked almost like strangers, but his spirits still rose when he saw them.  
His mother screamed in joy.  
“Edgar! Thank goodness!” Harrison’s father cried. They both embraced their older son.  
“Are you hurt?” his mother asked.  
“I’m fine,” said Edgar, his voice muffled.  
“I brought Edgar back! He’s completely unharmed!” Harrison rushed to his parents.  
Harrison’s parents immediately jumped in front of Edgar to shield him.  
Harrison’s shoulders had slumped with disappointment.  
“It’s okay, he’s not gonna harm me.” Edgar extricated himself from his parents. “It was an accident.”  
Edgar’s parents turned him around and examined him. “Where did you get this?” his mother asked, pointing to the bruise on his neck.  
He touched it gingerly. “I’m … actually not sure.”  
“Would you like something to eat after your journey, Mr. and Mrs. …?” David asked.  
“Copperfield,” said Harrison’s father. “And yes, please.”  
They all went into the mess hall, Harrison trailing behind the rest of his family.  
David had intended to bring everyone scuba diving that morning, but since Edgar and Harrison’s parents were coming and Nerris was still in shock, he had postponed it in favor of origami.  
The picnic tables were piled with crinkled paper. Space Kid was sitting in a heap of paper stars.  
Mr. and Mrs. Copperfield stuck close to their son, asking him about what happened. They had brought a plastic bag containing a few items of his, including a toothbrush, toothpaste and a comb. Harrison sat at the same table as them, listening silently.  
Edgar kept interrupting his narrative with reassurances. He was slightly disturbed by his parents’ questions, and he was upset with himself for it. Shouldn’t he be happy that they were worried?  
He realized that if he went back home, he would only be confronted with more questions. Even he hadn’t made much sense of the incident yet. Part of him was desperate to see his therapist and get his feelings out. The other part of him was afraid of the reactions of everyone else.  
He wanted to ask his family how they’d been while he’d been gone, but he didn’t know how to broach the subject. So Edgar continued answering his parents’ questions.

Through the window, Harrison saw Nerris coming towards the mess hall. He was torn between going up to her and running away, so he just stayed where he was.  
Nerris got a glass of milk from the kitchen and sat down at another table, near Harrison. Harrison didn’t meet her eyes.  
“You don’t have to apologize, Harrison,” she said immediately.  
“I sent you to another dimension!” he cried.  
“And you brought me back,” she said. “I forgive you. And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tricked you like that. I didn’t know about your brother. I’m sorry.”  
Harrison shifted to the same table as her. “I feel silly that we got into an argument about board games.”  
“It wasn’t about board games,” said Nerris. “It was about Edgar.”  
Harrison got a very bad feeling. “Nerris, are you afraid of me?”  
“What? No!” said Nerris. “You wouldn’t hurt people on purpose. Everybody should know that.”  
“I’m also sorry about insulting your roleplaying,” said Harrison.  
“No, I get it,” said Nerris. “You missed your brother. We could all play together sometime.”  
“That … that would be nice,” said Harrison. “Do you want breakfast?”  
“Kids, if you have any masterpieces you want to show to everyone, you can put it on the kitchen windowsill!” David called.  
Nikki rushed to put an origami fish on the windowsill.  
As Nerris went to the kitchen to get food, Harrison slowly opened one of the origami books and began folding a piece of red paper into a hat, feeling melancholy.  
Edgar’s answers weren’t calming his parents down, and Edgar was dismayed by what his family had become. He remembered his parents as being easily flustered, but no matter how upset or stressed they became, they pulled through and held their family together.  
Now, however, it seemed they had been shaken beyond repair, and Edgar couldn’t help feeling pangs of guilt. Whenever something went wrong, his constant instinct was to feel like it was his fault and he shouldn’t do anything to make it worse.  
To make it worse, there was how they had reacted to Harrison. Their worst fears always came from their anxieties about Edgar getting hurt. The fact that they were now scared of Harrison horrified and disgusted him.  
“Harrison is really sorry for what he did,” he said during a lull in conversation.  
“We know, dear,” said his mother, a slight tremor in her voice. “We don’t blame him. We just … we were so worried. We didn’t know how to react.”  
Edgar realized that his parents were averting their gaze from Harrison entirely. Harrison didn’t react to them, just concentrated on his origami.  
“Harrison brought me back!” said Edgar, annoyed. “Isn’t that worth celebrating?”  
“Of – of course it is,” his father stammered.  
“This camp has been good for Harrison, and we’re glad,” Mrs. Copperfield added.  
They weren’t even lying well. Edgar looked toward his brother’s mournful expression.  
This wasn’t enough. Edgar didn’t want to go home, leaving Harrison knowing that his parents were still afraid of him. And he didn’t want his parents to burn themselves out looking after him.  
Luckily, David interrupted the conversation. “Have you had breakfast?” he asked Edgar’s parents. “We have some leftover sausages!”  
Edgar slipped off to the next table to talk to Harrison. “What’s the matter?” he said in a low voice.  
“I was hoping bringing you back would fix things,” said Harrison mournfully.  
“It can’t be fixed that quickly,” said Edgar. “Maybe things won’t be the same as they were before, but we can work through this. Just like we’ve always worked through everything else.”  
“Will Mom and Dad be okay?” said Harrison.  
“It’ll just take some time for them to recover,” Edgar said, but he only half-believed it.  
Edgar had known events to change his parents. His early childhood memories were dim, but he didn’t think his parents had ever been the same people they were before his disability had become apparent and he’d received his diagnosis. He now feared that his disappearance had also changed them forever.  
“Harrison,” said Edgar, “would you be okay if I stayed at camp?”  
Harrison’s eyes widened with hopefulness. “You’re not leaving?”  
“If you don’t mind me staying,” said Edgar.  
“Why would I mind?” said Harrison, his eyes sparkling. “I’d love that!”  
“Great!” said Edgar.  
Nerris had returned from the kitchen with a plate of cold pancakes. It seemed she had heard them, because she was looking directly at them with wide eyes. Then she looked away.  
Edgar returned to his parents, who were sharing a sausage, probably out of politeness. Harrison watched from the next table.  
“You can have a look around before we take you home,” Mr. Copperfield told Edgar.  
“Actually, Mom and Dad,” said Edgar. “I was wondering if I could come to this camp, too.”  
His parents stopped eating. “What?” said his mother.  
“I know it costs money, but I really like it here,” said Edgar. “Plus, I’ll get to hang out with Harrison.”  
“We want to hang out with you, too,” said Mrs. Copperfield.  
“What about Mrs. Theleman?” said Mrs. Copperfield. “She’ll want to talk to you. Everyone back home’s worried about you.”  
“I know,” said Edgar, scrambling for justifications, “that’s why it’ll be stressful. Here I can just have fun.”  
“But therapy is good for you.”  
“It is.” Edgar almost dreaded the words he was saying. “I need time to think about what I went through before I talk to her. I’m sure Mrs. Theleman will understand. I’ll see you when summer’s over.”  
“Actually, we’ve been invited back a month from now, on Parents’ Day,” said his father.  
“That’s great!” said Edgar.


	2. Chapter 2

Edgar and his parents tried to approach Gwen and David with Edgar’s proposal, but that proved difficult. David was shouting at Dolph, who had run off with Preston’s scissors and was being chased by Preston around the hall. Gwen was under one of the other tables helping Space Kid gather up the stars he had dropped. Finally, they managed to get both counselors’ attention.   
“You never told us that,” said Gwen to Edgar.   
“I wanted to ask my parents first,” Edgar answered.   
“Well, that would be awesome!” said David. “It’ll take some time for your paperwork and fees to be processed, but that’s no problem. I suppose you’d like to go for Chess Camp?”   
“Yes, please,” Edgar answered.   
“Do you want to stay, Harrison?” Harrison’s father asked his younger son. “We sent you here to learn to control your powers, and you’ve accomplished that now.”   
Nerris’s head whipped around sharply.   
“Of course I want to stay,” said Harrison. “This is what I love. I think I’d have wanted to come here even if Edgar hadn’t disappeared.”   
“There’s always room for more improvement!” said David.   
“If that’s what you want,” said Mrs. Copperfield.   
“You’ll need some clothes,” her husband said to Edgar.   
“We need you to get a camp shirt!” said David.   
“It’s a T-shirt, right?” said Edgar, sounding concerned.   
“Yes.”   
Edgar’s smile reappeared. “Does it come in plaid?” he said jokingly.   
“No, but we can buy you some plaid if you want,” said David. “I can take all of you into town. Gwen, can you hold down the fort?”  
Gwen sighed. “Sure.”   
“Wanna come along?” Edgar asked Harrison.   
Harrison glanced towards Nerris. “No, thank you.”   
Nerris ate her food, all the while trying not to look too interested in the Copperfields.   
Edgar was staying at camp, and Harrison wasn’t leaving. Neither of those thoughts had occurred to her, and she was wondering what that meant for her.  
Nerris hadn’t expected her prank to affect Harrison so strongly. But then, she hadn’t known that he’d made his own brother disappear.   
The way Harrison had broken down over her disappearance had probably been similar to how he’d reacted to Edgar’s disappearance. The fact that Harrison cared about her that much had shaken her to the core.   
Nerris didn’t dislike Harrison nearly as much as she pretended to. She wondered if Edgar and Harrison had a similar rivalry at home, which seemed unlikely. Edgar might not react well if she continued her usual animosity with Harrison.   
She went to watch the Copperfields leave and found Harrison watching them with her.  
David, Edgar and his parents piled into David’s car. Nerris and Harrison watched them go.   
“I like Edgar,” Nerris told Harrison.   
“You do?” said Harrison happily.   
“Why does he like board games so much?” she asked.   
“He likes strategy,” said Harrison. “He’s very good at planning his way through a game. I don’t know how he does it.”   
“Do you like board games?” said Nerris slowly.  
“Yes,” Harrison confessed. “Not as much as Edgar, though.”   
“Does your family play board games a lot?”   
“We used to.”   
“It used to be … different?”  
“Yeah.” Harrison looked nervous. “I mean … it’ll get better.”   
Nerris looked away. “At least you have your brother.”   
“It’s not … I mean, I scared them, and -”  
“So?” said Nerris loudly. “What exactly happened?”   
“Um, I was practicing a trick, and Edgar was helping me, and I, uh, accidentally -”  
“Then it wasn’t your fault!”   
Harrison was surprised by Nerris’s insistence. “It’s okay -”  
“It’s not okay!” said Nerris. “Why do you put up with this? You don’t deserve to limit your magic like that! It’s cool!”   
“It is?” said Harrison. “I mean … you always said my magic is lame.”   
“I-I didn’t …” Nerris stuttered. “I … I just wanted to meet someone who was like me.”  
“I wanted to, too,” said Harrison. “But we’re what we’ve got.”   
There was a loud whooping. Some of the campers had come running outside.   
“I think your magic is cool too, Nerris,” said Harrison. “I like how you keep doing what you do and don’t even have any real magic. And your father is very supportive of you.”  
Nerris smiled. “I think you would love him.”   
The children who were outside had strung a jump rope between two trees and were playing volleyball with a beach ball. It wasn’t a good place to talk anymore.   
“Let’s go back inside,” said Nerris.   
Dolph had the most impressive collection of finished origami objects. Gwen instructed Harrison and Nerris to collect all the papers and sweep up the rubbish, and they did, which pretty much killed their conversation.   
Gwen called the campers who were playing volleyball to come in for lunch.   
Quartermaster came out with everyone’s lunch and didn’t seem to care about the rubbish, just placing the trays on top of the scraps.   
Harrison only took a few mouthfuls. The meat was stringy and the vegetables bland.   
The rest of the campers had gathered around one table, stirring every food in their lunch into a single lump. They even grabbed some butter and peanut butter from the fridge, then topped the whole thing with salt, pepper, ketchup, and even mustard.   
They then each took turns rolling one of Nerris’s twenty-sided dice to see which unlucky person got to eat it.  
“And Nurf has rolled the lowest number!” Max cried.   
“Aww,” said Nikki in disappointment.   
The others pushed the plate over to Nurf, who seemed to trying to control his obvious quiver. Ered started filming the whole thing on her phone.   
Nurf took a cautious spoonful of the food.  
“Bigger!” said Nerris.   
Nurf took a bigger spoonful and put it in his mouth. His eyes immediately bulged and there was a retching sound.   
“Swallow it!” Max yelled.   
Nurf closed his eyes. After a second, he dropped the spoon and, red in the face, ran into the kitchen, hand over his mouth.   
Nikki greedily grabbed the plate and squeezed more ketchup onto the food.   
The rest of the campers were laughing uncontrollably. 

As Nikki was finishing up the disgusting dish, there was a screeching sound. David, Edgar, and Harrison’s parents had returned.   
Edgar was now wearing a pink-and-white plaid shirt over his Camp Campbell T-shirt, along with new shorts and Velcro shoes. He was carrying a new backpack that supposedly contained his other purchases and belongings. Harrison was greatly reminded of who his brother used to be, and it made him feel excited.   
David led Harrison’s parents towards the counselors’ cabin. Edgar went inside the mess hall.   
“May I see what you bought?” Harrison asked.   
Edgar put his bag on the ground and showed Harrison. He had several more plaid shirts, shorts, socks and a cap. “I’m starving.”  
While waiting for the leftovers to be microwaved, Edgar flipped through one of the origami instruction books lying on the table, glancing at various patterns before settling on a pinwheel. He then took a single sheet from the pile of sorted paper and began folding something.   
Dolph ran over to watch Edgar. “Oooh, a pinwheel!”   
Edgar felt disturbed by Dolph watching him, but said nothing. He was slow and careful.  
Preston started a conversation with the campers who hadn’t returned to their volleyball game about whether it would be possible to weave a noose from paper strips. It turned into a discussion about the best noose materials.   
Edgar’s paper folding was coming out too asymmetrical.   
“The edges are not aligned!” Dolph cried.   
Edgar ignored him, pressing down the edges as well as he could. It didn’t get better, and Dolph looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.   
A few minutes later, the pinwheel still looked terrible. Nerris opened her mouth to laugh, but stopped when she saw Harrison glaring at her.  
“Oh, forget it.” Edgar ran out of the mess hall.   
“Edgar!” Harrison chased after him.   
Edgar was clenching his fists and beating his head with them. “It’s become worse!”   
“Edgar, it’s okay,” said Harrison.   
“I practice and I try, and it gets worse when I’m stressed and I -” Edgar stopped abruptly.   
Harrison reached for his brother, but Edgar gently pushed Harrison’s hands aside. “I need to be alone for a bit.” He went off towards the lake.  
When Edgar had left the room, Nikki went over to Edgar’s bag. Several of the other campers also followed her, ignoring the lunch the Quartermaster was serving.   
Nikki pulled out the small bag of objects Edgar’s parents had given him. She took out a tool with a looped wire and handle. The loop was wide at the bottom, then indented sharply and became narrow.   
“What’s this?” said Max.   
“A buttonhook!” Preston exclaimed with glee. “I didn’t know these were around anymore!”   
“What does it do?” said Nikki.   
“It helps you fasten buttons,” Preston replied.   
“Why would Edgar need a buttonhook?” said Max.   
“What are you doing?” Harrison had come back in, holding Edgar’s pinwheel. He grabbed the buttonhook, put it back in the bag and zipped up the backpack. “This is none of your business!”   
“Why can’t he do up buttons like everyone else?” Max asked.   
“He has dysgraphia,” Harrison answered angrily. “It means he has a hard time doing things like this.” He held up the unfinished pinwheel.   
There was an awkward silence.   
“What does he have trouble with?” Nerris asked cautiously.   
“He didn’t look disabled to me,” said Neil.   
“Just because you can’t see it or you’ve never seen it before doesn’t mean it isn’t real!” Harrison snapped. He sat at the table, folded Edgar’s pinwheel, then stormed out with the backpack.   
Mr. Copperfield was filling up the Camp Campbell enrollment form on David’s desk. His wife watched over his shoulder and David stood aside.   
“We want to be good to Harrison, we really do,” said Mr. Copperfield to David. “But his magic is beyond anything we’ve seen before and that we know how to cope with.”   
“You must understand, we’re not trying to change him,” Mrs. Copperfield added. “We want to equip him with the right tools and give him the support he needs,” the mother added. “If you can tell us how to help him, we’d be very grateful.”   
“Magic is only one part of this camp,” said David uncertainly.   
“We know,” said Mr. Copperfield. “But Harrison is happy here, happier than he was at home. It’s the most positive environment we can give him.” The parents checked the form and gave it to David.   
David read through it. “Everything seems to be in order!” His smile turned to confusion. “What’s … dysgraphia?”   
“That was the next thing we wanted to discuss,” said Mr. Copperfield. “It’s a writing disability. Edgar also lacks fine motor control and has trouble with simple tasks. There may be some things he finds hard or impossible to do.”   
“Please be patient with him,” said his wife. “He does try hard.”   
“Of course,” said David. “I’ll be sure to let Gwen know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not have dysgraphia, nor do I know anyone with dysgraphia. All my knowledge is from the internet. If you have any advice for how to properly write about the subject of disability, I welcome constructive feedback!


	3. Chapter 3

Harrison carried Edgar’s bag to Edgar, who was sitting by the edge of the lake.   
Edgar didn’t look at his brother. “Harrison, be honest with me. Do our parents say there’s something wrong with me behind my back?”  
“What? No!”   
It didn’t seem to convince Edgar. “They’ve pushed themselves too far. We can’t keep letting them pretend they’re alright, because they’re not.” He took his hands away from his face. “We have to face it, Harrison: our family is not doing well. We hide things from Mom and Dad, and they probably hide things from us, too.”   
Harrison gave no response.   
Edgar sighed. “I want to spend time with you, but that’s not the only reason I elected to stay here. I want them to have time to themselves. Time not spent worrying about their kids.”  
“You’re not a burden,” said Harrison.   
“But I still have problems, and I can’t make those problems go away.” Edgar’s face was turning red. “Mom and Dad have always been scared of everything! And I hate it! I hate seeing them curled up into balls of fear all the time! They’re the ones who need to go to therapy.”   
Harrison had shrunk away slightly.   
“I am grateful to our parents.” Edgar took Harrison’s hands. “Both of us were given things we never asked for. Our parents are human, with human feelings. But those feelings haven’t stopped them from trying to get us the help that we need.” He spoke with resolve. “Now I’m giving them what they need.”   
“This feels … wrong.”   
“It isn’t,” said Edgar. “You shouldn’t be the only one responsible for making the family happy. And I shouldn’t be the only responsible for helping us all keep it together.” He turned away. “I hope our family can heal.”   
“Also, I … told the other campers about your dysgraphia,” said Harrison hesitantly.   
Edgar didn’t respond for a long while. “Alright, then.” 

David, Gwen, and Mr. and Mrs. Copperfield came up to the boys. “Why aren’t you at lunch?” Mrs. Copperfield asked.   
“We’ve got your paperwork all filled out,” their father told them.   
“Don’t worry, Edgar and Harrison will have a wonderful time at Camp Campbell!” said David.   
“We hope so,” said Mrs. Copperfield.   
“About our conversation last time …” said David. “You asked us if we knew what was … different about Harrison.”   
The Copperfields nodded.   
“To be honest, I don’t think we know much more about your son’s powers than we did at the start. What we do know is that he has been getting better through his own perseverance!”   
“That’s good,” said Mr. Copperfield.   
“We don’t have answers, Mr. and Mrs. Copperfield,” said Gwen. “But I can assure you that Harrison fits in well here.”   
“We just wanted to help him,” said Mr. Copperfield. “I know we may have been putting a lot of pressure on you and come on too strongly -”  
“Oh, no, you really didn’t -” David began.   
“- We were just really worried about Harrison, and Edgar, and we just wanted to know whether or not, you know, you had any idea what was wrong with him -”  
“What was _wrong_ with him?” Edgar said loudly.   
His parents flinched.   
“I can’t believe you!” said Edgar.   
“Edgar -” Harrison began.   
“You never called me broken!” Edgar continued. “You can’t demonize it just because you can’t understand it! How’s that supposed to make him feel?”  
David and Gwen were inching away, looking as if they thought they shouldn’t be there.  
“You’ve always looked out for my needs, but what about Harrison’s needs?” Edgar cried.   
There was a long pause.   
“You’re right to make us feel ashamed, Edgar,” his father admitted. “We never paid Harrison the same amount of attention we paid to you. And we don’t want to be scared of him.”   
Harrison hung his head.  
“We knew even less about Harrison’s abilities than we did about your disability. We wanted to give him a support system, things to help him cope … but we still haven’t found any.”  
“We were blessed with two very special boys with things that we never expected,” said Mrs. Copperfield. “All children come with problems and challenges. We were hoping that he could meet other kids with magic and learn from others like him. But that turned out not to be the case.”  
Edgar immediately thought of Nerris.   
“Camp Campbell is the one place where I’ve been comfortable using my powers,” said Harrison to his parents. “I hope you can stop being scared one day.”  
To Harrison’s absolute surprise, Mrs. Copperfield knelt down and hugged Harrison. “We love you, and that will never change.”   
Harrison hugged her back tightly.   
“Edgar, is this why you want us to leave?” said Mr. Copperfield.   
Edgar sighed. “I want you to get help for yourselves. You’ve always tried to help us, and I’m grateful for that. But you’ve done it at the cost of yourselves. When was the last time you two had alone time? You need to take a break.”   
“But …”   
“This is good for you!” Edgar insisted. “You don’t need to spend every second of your lives being parents! Enjoy yourselves!”   
“What … what should we do?” said Mr. Copperfield.   
“I’ve been going to therapy for years,” said Edgar, “and you know what I’ve realized? I’m not the only one in the family who has anxiety.”   
His parents glanced at each other.   
“Fear is something that takes time to heal,” said Edgar. “I’m not blaming for you for being afraid and I don’t expect you to recover immediately. But I will blame you for not trying to get better.” Can you do that? For yourselves? For all of us?”   
“And you think this camp will be good for you?” said Mr. Copperfield for a beat.   
Edgar was uncertain, but he answered, “If this camp was good for Harrison, it might be good for me, too.”   
Mrs. Copperfield slowly nodded. “If either you or Harrison feel we’re doing something wrong, please tell us.”   
The Quartermaster served the Copperfields and David trays of meat, potatoes, and vegetables.   
“Real human food!” Edgar cried, shoveling it into his mouth.   
His parents evidently found the food mediocre, but they ate just enough to not let it go to waste.   
Mr. Copperfield set his fork and knife down. “Why don’t we play a board game? For old time’s sake?”  
Soon the Copperfields were all engaged in a game of Monopoly, with the campers and counselors watching eagerly.  
It didn’t take long for everyone to see that Edgar was winning. He made plans quietly, and collected his winnings calmly and smoothly. The rest of his family protested a little, but there was no hostility. They seemed to have accepted the fact that he would always beat them.  
By the time Edgar’s victory came around, all of them were laughing and joking around. The Copperfields were a family once again.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone has any tips and feedback on how to write about disabled characters, or any other topic in this story, do let me know!


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